The Kirkus Prize is one of the richest literary awards in the world, with a prize of $50,000 bestowed annually to authors of fiction, nonfiction and young readers’ literature. It was created to celebrate the 81 years of discerning, thoughtful criticism Kirkus Reviews has contributed to both the publishing industry and readers at large. Books that earned the Kirkus Star with publication dates between November 1, 2015, and October 31, 2016 (see FAQ for exceptions), are automatically nominated for the 2016 Kirkus Prize, and the winners will be selected on November 3, 2016, by an esteemed panel composed of nationally respected writers and highly regarded booksellers, librarians and Kirkus critics.

Diane Owens Prettyman

Genre

Romance

Diane Owens Prettyman

Diane Owens Prettyman is the author of two novels: the Pacific Northwest Manuscript Contest winner Thin Places, and Redesigning Emma which won the Colorado Romance Writers Heart of the Rockies Contest. She is also the author of numerous nonfiction works published in Oregon Coast, Oxygen, Texas, Whispers from Heaven and The Austin Statesman. In addition, Diane blogs for livehealthyaustin.com. Diane is a physical therapist and hospital administrator. She lives in Austin, Texas.

An ex-convict meets the daughter of a death-row inmate in Prettyman’s (Redesigning Emma, 2013) debut novel.

In Clam Harbor, Wash., Chloe Thomas masquerades as Chloe Gallagher to conceal her relation to her father, Calvery Thomas, a convicted murderer awaiting execution in Texas. Although she barely earns a living as a charter boat captain, she commits to paying a $1,000 fee to obtain her father’s ashes after his death, but she’s unsure where she’ll get the cash. Through an acquaintance, she meets Texan Duke Summers, who proposes that she help him smuggle shipments of alcohol north to sell to the Native Americans on Vancouver Island. Chloe reluctantly agrees, risking imprisonment while pocketing a grand every trip. Just before his scheduled execution date, Calvery tells fellow inmate Finn Tully that he’ll see him “in the thin places”—a reference to the intersection of this world with the next. When Finn is released from prison, he makes good on his promise to track down Calvery’s daughter, proclaim the man’s innocence and search for missing treasure.After Finn arrives in Clam Harbor, he and Chloe are instantly attracted to each other but also distracted by the circumstances that surrounded Calvery’s arrest and imprisonment. Although this solid novel’s title refers to locales close to the great beyond, it’s not particularly mystical save for one out-of-this-world scene near its end. The text is occasionally marred by missing quotation marks and inconsistent formatting, but, that said, the dialogue between Chloe and Finn rings true. Their story is refreshingly free of the sort of trumped-up incidents that often throw male and female leads together, and Prettyman intriguingly finds resonance in the fact that Chloe and Finn each harbor secrets.

An often engaging romance/mystery with a hint of the otherworldly.

ADDITIONAL WORKS AVAILABLE:

REDESIGNING EMMA

Historical Romance

Emma Ludwig, a Manhattan milliner on the Ladies Mile, attempts to sell her hats to New York Society. Set in 1899, in a narrative replete with the newsboy strike, deplorable mental health conditions, and the luxury of Fifth Avenue, Redesigning Emma is a vivid snapshot of New York at the turn of the last century.

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